Conventional ceramic materials, such as cement, concrete and other like materials can exhibit weak material properties. These weak material properties may be due to the fact that the bonds, for example hydrate bonds, in the material are often weak. Hydrate bonds are bonds that contain water in its molecular form. Hydrated Portland Cement is an example of a material that contains hydrate bonds such as CaO.2SiO2.4H2O and CaO.H2O. This weakness may cause the ceramic material to be fail prematurely, which is clearly an undesirable material characteristic.
Thus, a need exists to improve the bonds and, more generally, the bonding matrix associated with ceramic materials, such as cement, concrete and other like materials, so as to provide ceramic materials with improved material properties.
All references cited herein in this specification are incorporated by reference in their entirety.